Engine



l Patented Feb. 4, 1941 i UNlTEosTATEs PATENT OFFICE ENGINE Carl F. Bachle, Grosse Pointe, Mich., a'ssignor, by mesne assignments, to Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Detroit, Mich.

Application October 6, 1939, Serial No. 298,210 8 Claims. (Cl. 12S-176) This invention relates to internal combusin the plane of the crankshaft, showing the retion engines and more particularly to a means lationshlp of the crankshaft and pistons and ilfor supplying lubricating oil onto the underside lustirating my improved means for supplying of the engine pistons for cooling same and for the piston interior with a lubricating oil,

5, lubricating in part the engine cylinder walls. Fig. 3 is a detailed sectional view taken on the 5 It is well known that Ilubricating ipil, when line 3-3 Fig. 2, and sprayed into the piston results in benecial en- Fig. 4 is a detailed sectional view taken on gine performance. Prior to this, it has been atthe line 4-4 Fig. 3 with the crankshaft crank tempted to spray or supply the inside of the pisportion removed in order to illustrate the lubriton with lubricating oil, but heretofore the oi1 eating oil discharge opening carried in the con- 10 has not been sprayed directly onto the piston `necting rod hub. surfaces. Most generally a continuous stream of The present invention is shown for purpose oil is sprayed onto the crankcase in' the general of illustration in connection with an air-craft direction of the pistons and most of this is engine, though it is obvious that the principles l5 broken up into an oil mist and does not reach 0f my inventiOn may be inCOrpOrated in Various l5 piston, resulting in a heavy oil consumption and types of engines and theI'eOre iS not Specifically inemcient, engine operation. Such a. construclimited to an engine Structure as herein illustion, which creates an objectionable oil mist does trated. The engine A is 0f Substantially standnot serve a useful purpose as regards piston coolard COIlSlrllCiJiOn and OOmDIlSeS in general. a

ing, since it is found that piston cooling can Crankcase structure lll to which are secured a 20 best be obtained by spraying lubricating oil dlplurality Of engine Cylinders Il,l l2. i3. and Il. rectly in the piston so that said lubricating 011 The crankcase I0 carries suitable mainbearings is impinged against' the piston walls and internal l5 Which Support the Crankshaft i5- The Cylincooling ilns before same is broken up into a mist. deIS each Preferably include COnVentiOnl Cylin- .25 An object of my present invention is to provide der liners Il. and pistons 8 are operable within 25 for more eiilcient engine performance and deeach of the engine Cylinders and are preferably crease oil consumption by, providing means con- COnneCied With lille engl-lle Crankshaft l5 by" trolling the supplying of lubricating oil into the means 0f COIlneCting rOdS |8l piston interior so that substantially all said oil It Will be noted that the engine cylinders in thus used is directly impinged against the walls the present embodiment are arranged in an on- 3 of the piston interior. posed and staggered relation, and that the A further object 0f my present invention is to crankshaft is a 4-throw crankshaft of substanfacilitate the operation of a device of the charactilly Standard COHStrllCtiOn. The crankshaft 1S ter described, by constructing and arranging DI'OVided With Crank pOftlOnS |5a, |5b. |50, and

same for operation in timed relation with the en- |501, the connecting rods I8 being piVOtlly 011- 35 gine crankshaft and piston so that when the nected to these aforesaid crank portions as clearongine is operating the lubricating ou 1s sprayed 1y illustrated in Flg- 2 It Will be noted that or discharged into the piston interior from a Fig- 2 iS Somewhat diagrammatic in that some point relatively closely adjacent to the cylinder of the structural details are omitted in order to 40 inner end, my construction providing a lubricatmilf@ Clearly illustrate the inventlOn- Those 40.

ing oil supply which is sprayed or discharged portions of the connecting rods, which are pivdirectly into the piston interior from a discharge 0133115 Connected Willi ,the Said Crank POIiOnS opening carried by a connecting rod hub while may be designated as a connecting I'Od llllb P01'- said hub 1S ravehng relatively close to the cy1- tion and identified by the reference character inder inner end. d Y i9. 45

For a more detailed understanding of my in- Lubricating oil is fed under pressure to the venden, reference may be had to theA accommain bearings I6 from any suitable source of oil panying drawing ulustrating a preferred emsupply, and I have illustrated ln the accompanybodiment of my invention in which like characine drawing the main bearings I6 as being each ters referred to like parts throughout the sev- DlOVlded With a CilCllmfelen'al Oil gl'OOVe 20, 50

eral figures of the drawing, and in which; that are connected with the source of oil sup- Fig. l is a plan view of an internal combusply in the usual wayand arranged to communlj tion engine, cate with the internal oil passages 2| in the Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan sectional view crankshaft. It will be noted that these oil pasthrough the aforesaid engine taken substantially sages 2l extend through the crankshaft and con- 55 -which communicates with the passage 22, and .in the operationof the engine, it will be noted that as the crank turns or rotates within the connecting rod hub that the discharge openingl of passage 2| is periodically moved into communication with the elongated port 25. The length of this 'elongated port 25 maybe varied as desired and preferably it is designed to have a length which will place the passage 22 in communication'with passage 2| for a period of time. and that oil is discharged from the orifice 23 while ,the connecting rod hub is traveling substantially across the inner end of one of the engine cylinders. In Fig. 3 I have shown for purposes of illustration points A and B which diagrammatically illustrate the travel of the connecting rod lwhile said passages 2i and 22 are in communication with each other. It will be seen that the length of said elongated port 25 determines how long these passages 2'I and 22 are Y open to the pressure oil supply.

It will be noted that the connecting rod I8 associated with piston 8 in cylinder II has a lubricating oil jet 23 directing the oil directly into the interior of the piston associated with engine cylinder I2, while the connecting rod associated with the piston in the cylinder I2 carries an oil jet directing oil into the piston associated with. cylinder II. Likewise the pistons yassociated with cylinders I3 and I4 are respectively supplied with lubricating oil from oil jet openings carried by the connecting rods associated with cylinder I4 and I3.

It will be seen that the cylinders are arranged so that the connecting rod hubs travel closely adjacent to the inner end of an adjacent cylinder. The oil passages are so constructed and arranged and the crankshaft and pistons are so operatively timed as to preferably only supply lubricating oil directly into the piston interior,` while the piston is at the bottom of its stroke, and the connecting rod hub from which the oil is discharged is traveling closely adjacent to the cylinders inner end and underside of the piston.

In the cylinder arrangement as herein illustrated, it will be obviously seen that the construction and arrangement is very readily timed in operation to `obtain the desired results. Other cylinder arrangements may be as readily timed and constructed to accomplish the same purpose. In the present type of engine the engine performance has been materially improved by reason of this auxiliary supply of lubricating oil directly Into the piston interior. It will be observed that the lubricating oil has only a shortI distance to travel before it inipinges on the interior pi-ston walls, and thus the tendency of this lubricating oil to break up into a mist prior to being impinged on the piston is practically eliminated. I thus obtain efficient cooling of the system with a minimum of oil consumption, since substantially all of the oil is directly discharged onto the piston surfaces asV desired and only a negligible amount of oil reached the cylinder wall from whence it will eventually reach the 4combustion chamber. Thus the necessity of supplying additional oil draining rings is eliminated. Some of the oil reaches the cylinder walls and thus helps in lubricating same.

Although I have illustrated my invention in connection with a preferred embodiment it will be apparent that various changes and modifications rnay be made vtherein without departing from` the spirit of my invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. `In an internal combustion engine, the combinationlof a plurality of cylinders, a crankshaft having a radially offset portion, a piston operable in each of said cylinders and connected with said crankshaft, said crankshaft having lubricant conducting means in said offset portion,

and means operable in timed relation -with said crankshaft and piston for discharging lubricant from said conducting means to the underside of said piston when said piston is adjacent the bottom of its stroke and relatively closely adjacent to said offset portion.

2. In an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, a multithrow crankshaft, pistons operable in said cylinders and each connected with a throw of the crankshaft, means conducting lubricant under pressure through said crankshaft and including a discharge opening located substantially at the extreme outer por- .tion of each crankshaft throw, and means con- `trolling the ejection of lubricant from the discharge opening and operablein timed relation with said crankshaft during engine operation to discharge the lubricant outwardly of the crankshaftthrow, and impinge same against the underside of said pistons when said pistons are substantially adjacent the bottom Aof its stroke and adjacent to one of said discharge openings.

3. In an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, a crankshaft having a plurality of crank portions, pistons operable in said cylinders, connecting rods operatively connecting each of said pistons with one of said crankshaft portions, said crankshaft having a lubricant passage for conducting lubricant under pressure and including a discharge orifice located substantially at the extreme outer portion of each crank portion, each of said connecting rods having a hub pivotally connected with the crankshaft crank portion, said connecting rod hub having a discharge opening constructed and arranged to sweep over the crankshaft lubricant discharge orifice and arranged for operation in timed relation with said crankshaft and pistons, to discharge the lubricant and impinge same against the underside of the piston in the adjacent cylinder when said piston is substantially travelling adjacent the cylinder inner end substantially closely adjacent to said discharge opening aforesaid. y

4. In an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, a crankshaft having a plurality'of crank portions, pistons operable in said cylinders, connecting rods operatively connecting each of said pistons with one of said crankshaft portions, said crankshaft having a lubricant passage for conducting lubricant under pressure and including a discharge orifice located substantially at'the extreme outer portion of each crank portion, each of said connectingrods having a hub pivotally connected with the crankshaft crank pistons, to spray the lubricant against the underi side of the piston` in an adjacent cylinder when said connecting rod hubs are travelling in close proximity to the cylinder 'inner end, and when the pistons are near the bottom of their stroke.-

5. In an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, a crankshaft having a plurality of crank portions, pistons operable in said cylinders, connecting rods operatively connecting each of said pistons with one of said crankshaft pontions, said crankshaft having a lubricant passage for conducting lubricant under pressure and including a discharge orifice located substantially vso at the extreme outer portion of each crank portion, each of said connecting rods having a hub pivotally connected with the crankshaft crank portion, each of said connecting rod hubs having` a elongated discharge opening constructed and arranged for periodical-:communication with the crankshaft lubricant discharge orifice and arranged for operation in timed relation with said crankshaft and pistons, to spray the lubricant against the underside of a piston in an adjacent cylinder when said connecting rod hubs are travelling in close proximity to the cylinder inner end, and when the pistons are near the bottom of their stroke.

6. In an internal combustion engine including a pair of engine cylinders axially oiiiset, a crankshaft having crank portions substantially aligned with the cylinders, pistons operating in said cylinders, connecting rods connecting the pistons with the crank portions of said crankshaft, said pistons and crankshaft operatively timed in operation to place the piston in one cylinder at the bottom of its stroke and closely adjacent the cylinder inner end when the crank portion aligned with said other cylinder is travelling substantially closely adjacent the first mentioned cylinder, means conducting lubricating oil under pressure to the surface of the crank portion adjacent the piston, and means timed in operation with the crankshaft to control the discharge of the lubricating oil, whereby to supply the oil directly rthe piston,

into the piston while same is substantially at the bottom of its stroke.

7. In an internal combustion engine including a pair of opposed engine cylinders axially offset, a crankshaft having crank portions substantially aligned with the cylinders, and offset 180 degrees from each other, pistons operating in said cylinders, connecting rods connecting the pistons with the crank portions of said crankshaft, said pistons and crankshaft operatively timed in operation to place the piston in one cylinder at the bottom of its stroke and closely adjacent the cylinder inner end when the crank portion aligned with said other cylinder is travelling substanltially closely adjacent the first mentioned cylinder, means conducting lubricating oil under pressure to the surface of the crank portion adjacent lthe piston, and means timed in operation with rthe crankshaft to control the discharge of the lubricating oil, whereby to spray the oil directly into the piston while same is substantially at the bottoni of its stroke.

8. In arinternal combustion engine including a pair of engine cylinders axially offset, a crankshaftJ having crank portions substantially aligned With the cylinders, pistons operating in said cylinders, connecting rods connecting the pistons with the crank portions of said crankshaft, said pistons and crankshaft operatively timed in operation to place the piston in one cylinder at the bottom of its stroke and closely adjacent the cylinder inner end when the crank portion aligned with said other cylinder is travelling substantially closely adjacent the first mentioned cylinder, means conducting lubricating oil under pressure to the surface of the crank portion adjacent and means timed in operation with the crankshaft 'to control the discharge of the lubricating oil, whereby to spray the oil directly into the piston while same is substantially at the bottoni of its stroke, said lubricating oil Vconducting' means comprising oil conducting passages connecting theP source of lubricating oil under pressure with the outer surface portion of the crankshaft crank portion, said oil discharge control means comprising a passage in said connecting rod portion arranged for periodic alignment with the passage in said crankshaft during engine operation.

CARL F. BACHLE. 

